An Unlikely Hero
by Markition Necrovius
Summary: It was such a simple plan. All he had to do was get his younger brother to murder him. So now, how did Itachi end up having to save his future killer? AU after ep. 134. Warning for yaoi.
1. He's Mine

I don't own any of the characters of Naruto...so don't sue. I don't have any money.

Warning: This story will contain shounen-ai (guy/guy) in later chapters. This will NOT be a Itachi/Sasuke fic. Or...at least I don't think it will. As it is right now, there's a different pairing.

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Prolouge- He's mine

The room was small, an overpowering smell of death hanging in the air like the blade of a guillotine, ready to strike. The walls were crimson with blood, the stone floor ridden with bodies, so torn that they were unrecognizable. Fear and pain were on the faces of the dead, their glassy eyes staring up at the ceiling, unseeing. It had all been accomplished in minutes, by one man.

Yellow snake eyes stared, fearful but determined, into a pair of eyes as red as the walls. Unnatural red eyes, known to the common ninja as the Sharingan. Known to the wizened as the Mangekyu.

And for all the horrors he'd ever accomplished, for all the ninja he'd been able to bring to hands and knees from a simple stare, he couldn't help but think those eyes insane. It was a subtle insanity; not the madness in the eyes of subordinates, not the obsessive, single-mindedness he'd seen in the eyes of someone who'd dedicated their lives to one goal. And it wasn't the feral look of someone who'd been out in the wild, alone for far too long.

It was the cold, calculating look he saw when he looked into a mirror, save this had a rage behind it that pushed the limits of the word 'cold'.

"I warned you, snake. _You were not to touch him_." The voice was cold, hollow. It matched his eyes.

"A curse seal counts as touching?" He tried to keep up his unfrightened facade- one he'd perfected over the years. Somehow he doubted it was working.

"He's _mine._ You can't have his body."

"What if he comes to me willingly?"

"He won't."

"But if he does?"

Silence and a glare were all he got as an answer. Vaguely, he thought he heard the distinctive sound of buzzing. Maybe flies were begginging to gather around the bodies- it was the summer, after all. The flies would be quite active. Or maybe the sound of his own blood rushing through his veins was fooling him.

Something told him to look away from the eyes he'd been staring at. He refused the break the stare because it would be seen as a sign of defeat, but some kind of warning in the back of his mind was screaming at him to look somewhere- _anywhere_ but at those eyes.

He didn't listen soon enough, and before he knew it, the world was fading to black. Those eyes were all he saw, until he noticed a red moon above them. Wait...red moon? They were inside- underground. How could they be seeing the sky? And something was off about colors around him. The ground seemed darker than it should be, and the shadows lighter. The man in front of him looked like a walking shadow, but those eyes retained their color. While everything else was in blacks and whites, those eyes and that moon remained red.

It wasn't until the man was suddenly standing next to him without any sign of motion that he realized what was happening. This had to be the Sharingan at work- this was the Tsukoyomi. He'd heard of the horrors of the illusion, but this was his first sight of that red moon.

But the knowledge didn't help him. The hand that was suddenly gripping his neck, pulling upward and away from his body, didn't hurt any less from the knowledge that it wasn't real. And when his head tore away from his body, the fact that it couldn't be real because he wouldn't still be living didn't lessen that searing pain.

Vaugely he thought he was screaming as his head was placed on a stake in the ground. But he still couldn't break that eye contact as the Sharingan user stepped back, and flies began to gather. Out of nowhere, they swarmed his head, crawling over his skin and into the eyes that he could not close, into his nose and into his mouth as he opened it to scream again. Down his throat and into every opening they could find...

He was still screaming as he found himself back in one piece, on his hands and knees, staring at the stone ground of the room they were in before. It was dark, as it should have been, but there was color. And there was silence, blessed silence. No flies buzzing, just the dripping of water from somewhere in the undergound complex. And the heavy breathing from both the men.

He staggered to his feat, unable to keep his balance well. He was tired- much more tired than seemed natural. He couldn't bring himself to say anything as he stared at the man before him, not meeting his eyes. He refused to.

"Don't touch him."

It was his last warning. He knew that as he heard the man turn, watched him walk out the door and back to the exit. His voice echoed through his aching head as he leaned against one of the bloody walls, letting himself slide to the ground. He wouldn't survive their next encounter. That was what he meant by stating that last warning. And to any other man, they would have avoided further angering the man. Their lives would have obviously depended on it.

But this was not 'any other man'. Sitting on the floor, the blood of his underlings surrounding him, Orochimaru just laughed. He could not be scared by an upstart teenager. He knew the warning, he knew his options. And he would not pass up the chance he'd been waiting so long for.

He wouldn't go back now. He would have Uchiha Sasuke, and there was nothing Itachi could do about it.

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Author's Notes:

Alrighty, then. Don't mind Itachi's possessiveness. It isn't love. He just wants Sasuke to kill him. First chappie will be coming soon!

Review, please!


	2. He's done what?

Chapter 1- He's Done _What_?

The Akatsuki was one of the most feared groups in any of the countries. They were prestigious, only allowing the most powerful of ninja among their few ranks. To serve them was an honour, and a favor was not forgotten by the organization. They met in secret, their headquarters unknown. Their members were recognized by the distinctive coats they wore, black with red clouds. Their goal was unknown to most, their influence hard to trace in any crime or murder committed.

Thinking of this, Itachi sat silently in the lounge of the secret Akatsuki headquarters. He pondered why an ornganization so prestigious and so powerful would have a main room so utterly...welcoming. With pleasant pictures on the walls and over-stuffed chairs to sit on...it looked like a normal house. The leader...was truly a mystery.

Besides really never showing himself to the rest of the Akatsuki, and almost never giving orders in person, the Leader was rather charismatic. Well, when he wasn't scorning them for failures. In some ways he reminded Itachi of Orochimaru...though he'd only met the snake sannin a few times. For that reason alone the Uchiha didn't like being near him more than necissary. He had that effect on almost all of the members of the Akatsuki...well, save Sasori. But the puppet master had been partners with Orochimaru, so it was to be expected he was immune to that kind of creepiness.

While this wasn't particularly important, Itachi didn't really have anything better to be doing. Kisame was out in a nearby town, getting some supplies for the bare pantry of the kitchen, so he couldn't very well be on any missions. Deidara and Sasori were out, depriving him of anyone to bug...and no one ever knew where Zetsu was. He came and went like the wind.

Itachi was about to turn on the tv, which he hated to do because he thought the devices were an astounding waste of energy, when he heard the front door click open. Kisame was back, then. There was some shuffling, which was more noise than Kisame usually made, meaning that he was carrying the food as well.

The Uchiha stood and walked out into the hall, spotting his fish-like partner. The dim light in the hall made his blue skin ethereal and more unerving than usual. Since they weren't on any missions, Kisame wasn't in his usual Akatsuki coat; rather, a simple dark shirt and dark pants. Normal attire. Itachi himself was dressed in much the same, save his shirt had a fishnet collar.

Itachi took one of his partner's several bags and brought it into the kitchen, looking over his shoulder as he did so. He gave his partner a meaningful glance, which Kisame somehow understood the meaning of. They had developed a close enough relationship over the years, for Kisame to be able to tell things by just meeting his partner's eyes- that due to Itachi's unnerving lack of verbal responses or prompts. Yes, Kisame was the talker in their partnership.

"I went to my connections in town. There's some news from Konoha- apparently, one of their nin have gone missing."

Itachi didn't say anything as he placed the food into the cabinets of the sparsely decorated kitchen, but he became tense quickly. Kisame had been counting on that- he knew Itachi would want to hear news from his old home, no matter how much he claimed to hate it.

"Yesterday, Uchiha Sasuke went missing. They don't know where he went, but they sent some nin after him." Kisame stated rather smugly, proud that he'd found out information before Itachi had.

Silence followed the statement, though Kisame hadn't been expecting anything different. What surprised the shark was how tense Itachi had become. The Uchiha's hand had a grip so tight on the edge of the counter that his knuckles were white, and his head was half-bent forward, his bangs shielding his eyes from view. Itachi's anger could be felt in almost palpable waves by Kisame, forcing him to step back. This was the angriest Kisame had ever seen Itachi- this was the most emotion he'd seen out of the Uchiha at all.

"...Itachi-san?"

"Where did he go?" The voice, usually hollow and dry, was strained. Like it was holding something back.

"He was heading towards the Rice Country. No one knows more than that."

In a blur of motion Itachi had set the bag he was carrying on the counter and was out of the kitchen, walking up the stairs swiftly. Kisame gaped and followed him, dropping his bags on the floor. "Itachi-san! What are you doing?"

Itachi stormed into his room, the door flying open before him. He didn't answer Kisame as he grabbed his coat and put it on, buttoning up the front. He picked up the bag of kunai sitting on his bed and his hat, resting on his desk, and put them both on. Finally, he turned to Kisame, his sharingan eyes alight with a fire Kisame had never seen there before.

"Get your coat, Kisame. We're going to the Rice Country."

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It was blurry. Everything was so blurry...and the rain wasn't helping. The forest was dark, even though it was a few hours still to sunset. The roots of the trees had eaten up the soft ground, causing him to trip every other step. And even though the rain was muffling his hearing, and he had walked for a good half an hour, he could still hear the roaring of the falls at the Valley of the End. That haunting roar, like it was shouting accusations at him. Accusations for what he'd done.

With every step he took a new wave of pain ran through his body, starting from that damn seal on his neck. It throbbed in time with his heartbeat, its poison running through his very blood. But it gave him power, so he couldn't hate it, could he?

It gave him power, so he didn't have to kill Naruto. Because, even if he was willing to listen to Itachi's advice and murder his best friend, he didn't think he'd be able to. He didn't know if that drive for revenge could carry him that far.

Wearily he brought up a hand to push his dripping bangs from his eyes. He didn't even know where he was going- he just knew the direction those Sound nin had told him to go. He had no idea where Orochimaru was, but he'd find the snake sannin. He had to, because he didn't have anywhere else to go. He had betrayed Konoha- he'd be declared a missing nin soon. He'd fought and almost killed Naruto. He couldn't go back now.

Vaguely he thought he saw someone through the rain. He ignored the figure at first, and continued trudging through the muck, but as he got closer the figure looked more and more familiar. White hair, a sound headband, glasses. It was Kabuto, standing too smugly for his liking, a smirk on his face.

"Sasuke-kun. We've been waiting for you."

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Author's notes:

Alright...I didn't expect to post the next chapter so soon...but it was a short one. I expect the chapters to get longer as the story progresses, not sure, though.

Itachi wants you to review.


	3. Deserted and Alone

Notes: I've been getting some reviews commenting on the fact that there will be no Sasuke/Itachi in this. Now, there may be some brotherly love in it, but I'm trying to keep them in character. By the end of this, I'm pretty sure they'll end up on better terms than they were, but that's about it.

Also, about the time lapse. I can't garuntee there will be one anytime soon, and when it does appear, it is going to be nothing like the one in the manga. That's all I'm saying for now.

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Chapter 2- Deserted and Alone

The rain was dying, and Kakashi still had not found Naruto. He'd set out from the village as soon as he could to find Naruto, knowing that somewhere, he'd need his help. He still had not found the boy, and that fact had Kakashi worried. What could have happened? He and his dog had been following Naruto's scent, but the washed everything away. They'd been heading in the same general direction since they lost the trail, hoping they'd come upon the boy. Could Naruto have changed direction somewhere? Could Kakashi had passed him, unseen? Maybe Naruto had already found Sasuke and had brought him back to Konoha, against all odds. Or maybe something else had happened to him. Could the Akatsuki have gotten him?

It was those thoughts that dominated Kakashi's mind as he leapt easily and skillfully through the trees. The branches were wet, but his balance from years of training and the chakra concentrated at his feet kept him from slipping. It was almost sundown, and the shadows were growing long, less and less sunlight leaking through the trees. But Kakashi continued, kept diligently moving, and soon enough the thick trees began thining, and the roaring sound of a waterfall came nearer and nearer.

Kakashi recognized the cliff as soon as it came into sight. The Valley of the End, a giant cliff that played host to a large waterfall, two giant figures carved into the stone on either side of the falls. They were at least thirty meters tall, two stern ninja facing each other. Their hands were before them in a classic gesture of jutsus, and their faces were stern. The one on the right had hair running down his back in spikes until it joined with the cliff face, and the other wore a helmet. The cliff overlooked a lake, fed by the waterfall.

But it it was different now. Even by the dim light ot the setting sun, it was clear that damage had been done on the stone itself. Giant pieces of the cliffs were missing, gaping holes in the soft dirt of the ground were still new. A battle had happened there- a large one. One that had happened no more than an hour ago.

Kakashi searched the cliffs with his eye, both he and his dog moving around to make sure it was as empty as it first appeared. When they still found no one, Kakashi searched the place physically, climbed to the top of the cliff and moved around, searched in the water. After an hour of searching for scents and signs, they found nothing.

The Valley of the End was deserted.

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Sasuke found himself, for the first time in his life, truly appreciating a healer nin. When Kabuto found him, stumbling in the woods, half-blinded with pain, he seemed to know exactly what to do. What hand-seals to form, exactly where to touch his burning neck to dull the pain. As if he'd dealt with those cursed seals before. But all four of those sound nin had seals, hadn't they? Maybe the marks hurting wasn't so rare.

But regardless, as he walked down the long flight of stairs a few steps behind Kabuto, he was blessedly numb. Every footfall sent a dull tingling up his legs, instead of searing pain. His mark burned faintly, and the skin of the curse seal was unnaturally tender on his neck, but all the pain that had been wracking his body was a distant memory.

The passage was long and cold, and their footsteps echoed on the stone. It was unpleasantly damp because of the rain, but as they went deeper the air became drier. The sound of birds, and the hissing of the wind also faded as they went deeper. Like they were leaving the world of the living and stepping into some twisted world of the dead. It became silent as they reached the bottom of the staircase, and Sasuke stared in astonishment through the gloom. A table was along the left side of the room, with all sorts of snake models, snake bodies floating in liquids, there was even a dried hand. The light from the torches barely illuminated the table, and cast even less light on the throne on the far side of the room. But there was someone sitting there, in the dark, and Sasuke knew instinctively that it was Orochimaru.

Kabuto bowed as they approached the chair but Sasuke showed no such respect. Orochimaru laughed at that, a deep chuckle, and stood. As he stepped into the light of the torches, Sasuke was surprised to see that Orochimaru looked...different. His face was wrapped in white bandages, leaving only one yellow eye visible. His hands were also wrapped in bandages, as was the skin visible under his robes. But the strangest thing was the short, white hair framing his head, nothing like the long dark hair Sasuke was used to.

Orochimaru spotted Sasuke's confusion and the amusement was obvious in his voice when he responded. "What's wrong, Sasuke-kun? Do you not like my new body?"

The sannin was rapidly approaching, walking like a predator stalking his prey, but Sasuke refused to back down. He'd backed down to Orochimaru once, a long time ago, but he wasn't that weak anymore. He wouldn't let himself be that weak. Even with this fierce denial of his fear, he didn't trust his voice enough to speak.

Orochimaru's advance was only encouraged by Sasuke's poorly hidden fear. "Oh? And here I was hoping it would please you." He was dangerously close now, his body almost pressing up against Sasuke's. He reached one pale hand out, and stroked Sasuke's cheek, his flesh oddly cold to the Uchiha's fevered skin.

With that one statement and gesture, Orochimaru managed to make the deep-rooted fear in Sasuke's breast grow like a virus, managed to make him stagger back half a step as Orochimaru towered over him. But that fear turned to anger, even in the face of that sadistic smile twisting the sannin's lips.

"Back off." Sasuke hissed, his sharingan staining his eyes red out of reflex. "I don't care what body you have. As long as you give me power."

Orochimaru found that the most amusing out of anything Sasuke had done, and laughed as he turned to walk back to his throne. "Show our new student to his room, Kabuto-kun. I'm sure he's exhausted."

Sasuke gladly followed Kabuto down another dark hall, escaping further from the sannin with each step. He struggled to hold onto his anger as the cold of the stones threatened to seep into his very bones. Like the looming feeling of decay, of a solitary confinement, it scared him- all of this scared him. It was nothing like the welcoming, lively feel of Konoha, that buzz of everyday life. Even the abandoned feel of the old Uchiha compound was better than this.

"We're leaving tomorrow morning. Make sure you're ready." Kabuto stated in a whisper, then walked further down the hall, dissapearing into the darkness.

Sasuke stared at the heavy wooden door Kabuto had left him at. He opened the door and looked inside, wincing at how cold the room was. It was colder than the rest of the place; the stone almost numbed his fingers as he gripped the door frame. There were no torches or lights, only a small bed in the corner. At least it looked clean.

With a grimace Sasuke shut the door behind him, locking himself in an impenetrable darkness. He fumbled his way to the bed and curled up on it, covering himself with the blanket in a vain attempt to keep himself warm. He shivered, fighting to keep his growing fears at bay.

Was the hope of gaining power worth this? The mark on his neck was throbbing again, his skin was numb from the cold. The slimy feel of Orochimaru was a pall over everything, that bitter taste of fear soaked into the stones. It made him feel nauseous, and alone. More alone then he'd ever felt in his life, even after his clan was killed.

Was all this worth leaving the warmth and companionship of Konoha?

Was it worth leaving Naruto?

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Author's Notes: Yay! The first deviation from the actual anime's storyline. Next chapter up soon!

Review!


	4. A Desperate Alliance

Chapter 3- A Desperate Alliance

The small fire was the only warmth in the clearing. And vaguely, he was rather surprised they had managed to get a fire going, after all the rain. It was near to midnight, and the rain was long gone, but the air still seemed cold and damp. Of course, conditions like that didn't bother him anymore. And he was glad for the rain- it got rid of their trail, washing away any traces of their passing. The Akatsuki wouldn't be able to follow them, and neither would the ninja he'd sensed in the forest a few hours ago. He'd thought it was Hatake Kakashi, but he couldn't be sure.

Idly, Itachi grabbed another branch from the pile of wood he'd collected and threw it into the dying fire. It sputtered, hissed, and the flames grew a bit higher.

Kisame was laying on the ground beside him, sleeping. His coat was spread under him to separate himself from the damp ground, and he was curled up ever so slightly, an instinctual reaction to get warmth. It wasn't Kisame that had his attention, though. It was the form laying deathly still across the fire from him, wrapped in Itachi's own Akatsuki coat, that Itachi was staring at.

The coat almost completely shrouded the boy's form, leaving only a bruised face in view, the serenity of a deep sleep plain upon his face. Blond hair was limp, draping down his face in locks that normally stood up in all different directions. Whisker-like lines scoured his cheeks, reminiscent of the creature inside of him. It was Naruto, the container of the nine-tailed fox. And Itachi had to admit he looked quite ridiculous with that coat.

They'd found him on the way to the Rice country. Both Itachi and Kisame knew where Orochimaru's base was, and that was to be their first stop. When they passed through The Valley of the End and stumbled upon an unconscious Naruto, Itachi recognized him to be Sasuke's friend, so they decided to take him.

And if they'd arrived any later, the boy may very well have died of blood loss and exposure. He was caked in blood, deep wounds oozing at a sluggish rate. There were also strange burns on his hand and arm that looked somewhat like chakra burns. He was in horrible condition, and neither Itachi nor Kisame could tell exactly who had done this damage. It was clear there had been a fight, but the other combatant was nowhere to be found.

But sitting across from the injured Naruto, bandaged and somewhat cleaner, Itachi couldn't get rid of the sick feeling that Sasuke had done this. Really, he should have been happy. Sasuke was finally following in his footsteps, finally on the road to defeating him. Even if he hadn't killed Naruto, defeating him would have allowed Sasuke to master his sharingan. So why wasn't he happy? Sasuke going to Orochimaru was only temporary; once Itachi found them he was planning on taking Sasuke back to Konoha. So it wasn't worry he was feeling, and he knew enough to know it wasn't anger.

Had he really felt nothing for so long he'd forgotten what emotions were? When had he become so numb?

Itachi's eyes widened almost imperceptibly as he realized he was no longer staring at a sleeping face. Blue eyes, glazed over with drowsiness and maybe just a little pain met sharp red, and neither looked away for a long moment. Finally Naruto broke the stare to look around the clearing, and struggle to sit up. He looked dazed, stunned, and not a little confused. He was clutching onto Itachi's coat like a blanket- he must not have realized that it was a coat, or he probably would have been disgusted.

"W-why...? Where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his voice cracking at first. He hadn't had anything to drink in so long...

"You are his friend, are you not?" Itachi's quiet voice was sharp, compared to Naruto's mumbling.

"Yeah...what did you do to him? Why am I here?"

In any other situation, Itachi would have ignored the questions and tied Naruto up. But this situation was unique to say the least. Naruto could be the only help he would get on the search, and the only leverage he had against Sasuke. He needed Naruto's help.

"He has gone to Orochimaru." Itachi stated matter-of-factly. As if that one statement could answer all of Naruto's questions.

"Yeah, why do you care?" The boy seemed to be getting angry now. And he obviously didn't want to talk about Sasuke, with the way he was acting. "Are you afraid of him defeating you?"

Well, in Itachi's opinion, that was unnecessarily bitter. Why would he be afraid of Sasuke reaching a goal he himself had set for the boy? Itachi was really considering just knocking Naruto out to save himself the annoyance. "If he stays with Orochimaru, he won't live long enough to defeat me." Or, more accurately, wouldn't keep his body long enough.

"...So, what are you going to do? Help me find him?" It was Naruto's sparse attempt at sarcasm.

"No." Naruto looked stunned for a moment, as if he'd actually been expecting a 'yes'. And Itachi probably waited a bit longer than he had to, to continue. "_You_ are going to help _me_."

The young Kyuubi vessel stared at him for a moment before throwing his hands behind his head and laying back down on his back. He rested the foot of his left leg onto his right knee, but he never let his eyes leave Itachi's form. Good, he had some survival instinct after all.

"You're weird." Naruto stated honestly. "What if I don't want to help you?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "You are going to help me." There was no infliction in his voice. It was a simple statement of the truth.

And that 'truth' stopped any protests Naruto might have had about assisting a man that had murdered his own clan.

But the tense moment ended abruptly when Kisame began snoring, loud and long. Itachi's eye twitched ever so slightly, and he moved his gaze so he could properly glare at his sleeping partner, and Naruto poorly hid his snicker. Finally, after the snores got so loud that Itachi was sure Kisame would choke and kill himself, he picked a kunai out of the holster strapped to his leg, and thew it at the shark's head, handle-first. The metal came into contact with Kisame's head, making a surprisingly loud 'thunk'. He shot awake, looked around blearily, and glared at Itachi. Without a word Itachi leaned up against the tree behind him, closed his eyes, and for all intents and purposes fell asleep. In record time.

Kisame crossed his arms, realized that it was now his watch, and glanced over at Naruto, who looked a little bit confused at the the partners' complete lack of communication. Of course, he also looked amused at the fact that Kisame had just gotten hit in the head with a kunai, which was really Itachi's standard method of waking him up.

"Damn brat." Kisame muttered, readjusting himself so he could sit on the hard ground a bit more comfortably.

"...shark face." Naruto muttered back, also crossing his arms in an unconscious miming of Kisame's posture.

"Snot-nosed whelp."

"You're just mad 'cause you can't cut my arms off." Naruto's voice was smug and victorious.

"Oh I can't, can I?" Kisame moved to stand and reached for the hilt of the Samehada, a vicious smirk curving his bluish lips.

Naruto looked ready to stand as well, regardless of his injuries, but both glanced to the side when Itachi moved slightly, catching their attention. A pair of cold Sharingan eyes glared them both down until they were sitting and quiet, before closing again.

Kisame and Naruto ended up glaring for the rest of the night, until Naruto dozed off, leaving the shark to stew in his boredom.

And Kisame didn't even want to save Itachi's bratty brother. It was going to be a long trip.

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To put it simply, Tsunade was worried. To put it honestly, she was close to panicking and ready to strangle someone. Not that she would tell anyone that. Well, the panicky part, anyway.

The question was, why was she so worried? Well, Kakashi had just gotten back around half an hour ago, and she was dragged out of bed to be informed he had not found Naruto nor Sasuke. Now, she sat at her desk in the Hokage's office, her office, at two in the morning staring at a very haggard Kakashi.

But there was an informant standing next to Kakashi, who had just delivered even more bad news. The agent was on the short side, with a dark complexion. He was chuunin level, as were most of her every-day informants. His hair was dark, almost black, and his eyes were a dark brown, fixed on Tsunade. The poor messenger looked terrified, which was probably because of the glare Tsunade was leveling at him. She had a habit of getting angry when she was worried.

So, the problem? All of the genin of team seven were missing. The messenger had just reported that he couldn't inform Sakura that both her teammates were missing, because she was missing as well.

Kakashi shifted his weight from foot to foot. He looked just as worried as she was. "What do we do?"

Tsunade was silent for a long time. She stared at her desk, her elbows resting on the table and hands clasped in front of her mouth. Finally, she looked back to Kakashi. "We will do nothing right now. You're exhausted. Go to sleep. I'll send search parties out in the morning."

The Sharingan-wielder didn't look happy, but he bowed and left her office. He wasn't willing to defy her, and even he knew he was too tired to do any good.

Three children missing. One of which was the Kyuubi vessel, and another one of the last living members of one of Konoha's most powerful clans. What could they do?


End file.
